Reproductive Success

Reproductive success is defined as the passing of genes onto the next generation in a way that they too can pass on those genes. In practice, this is often a tally of the number of offspring produced by an individual. A more correct definition, which incorporates inclusive fitness, is the relative production of fertile offspring by a genotype. For example, the offspring produced as a result of normal mating are an example of reproductive success, because they too can pass their genetic material on to the next generation. Alternatively, the birth of a mule as a result of the mating of a horse and a donkey is not an example of reproductive success because the mule is sterile and thus not able to continue the germ line.

Reproductive success is part of the calculation for fitness and a key element in the theories of natural selection and evolution.

Support of IFD - Ideal Free Distribution of Unequal Competitors ... smaller leaf and sharing a leaf with another aphid reduce a stem mother's reproductive success, but the aphids settle in such a way that the average reproductive success for ... However, reproductive success is unequal within the same leaf, and stem mothers that settle closer to the base of the leaf have higher fitness than those that ...

Mate Choice - Origins and History ... to survival and have negative consequences for reproductive success ... Bateman presented experimental evidence that male reproductive success is limited by the number of mates obtained while female reproductive success is limited by the number of pregnancies that she can have ...

Sexual Dimorphism - Mammals and Birds - Birds ... Such differences have been attributed to the unequal reproductive contributions of the sexes ... Plumage polymorphisms have evolved to reflect these differences and other measures of reproductive fitness, such as body condition or survival ... The reproductive success of the male is thus determined by his success during each year's non-breeding season, causing reproductive success to vary ...

Varieties of Monogamy in Biology - Serial Monogamy - Reproductive Success ... that males would be apt to seek more mating partners than females because they obtain higher reproductive benefits from such a strategy ... Therefore, in order to monopolize periods of more than one female’s reproductive life span without being considered polygamous and thus breaking social norms of a monogamous society ... remarried men and women because the men have a longer reproductive window ...

Famous quotes containing the words success and/or reproductive:

“The greater speed and success that distinguish the planting of the human race in this country, over all other plantations in history, owe themselves mainly to the new subdivisions of the State into small corporations of land and power.”—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)

“The blind conviction that we have to do something about other peoples reproductive behaviour, and that we may have to do it whether they like it or not, derives from the assumption that the world belongs to us, who have so expertly depleted its resources, rather than to them, who have not.”—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)